Device for controlling electric circuits



Au 29, 1939. 1.. J. DE LANTY 2,170,964

DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING ELECTRIC CIRCUITS Filed Oct. 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN WIN TOR.

BY W ATTORNEY To Morons Mani M Aug. 29, 1939.

L. J. DE LANTY DEVICE FOR CCNTROLLING ELECTRIC CIRCUITS Filed Oct. 21, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. Law! J De [/wrr BY W i ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 29, 193 9 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR. oon'mommo nnno'mro omcmrs Loren J. De Lanty, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Sperry Products, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 21, 1936, Serial No. 106,852 14 Claims. (Cl. 175-183) This invention relates to devices for controlling Fig. 4 is an assembly showing a vertical section electric circuits in response to movement of an through the impulse-generating mechanism and object. More particularly, the invention is disthe circuits controlled thereb closed in the present application as applied to Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a 5 testing mechanism for detecting flaws and eccenmodified form of impulse-generating mechanism. 5 tricities in the lead sheaths which surround cables Fig. 6 is a. vertical section through the impulseas the said sheath-covered cables come out of the generating mechanism employed in Fig. 5. lead press. The said testing device is adapted Referring first to Fig. 1, it will be understood to encircle the lead sheath and to traverse a that my invention is capable of various applica- 10 circular path around the circumference of the tions but I have shown a general assembly of 10 sheath as-the sheath movesaxially through the one application of my invention, namely, the aptesting mechanism. As a result, the testing plication to the test mechanism adapted to be mechanism describes a spiral path around the applied to the testing of lead sheath cable as the cable. A motor drives the testing mechanism in said cable is extruded from the press. In this its path around the cable and it will readily be application of the invention, it will be seen that 15 appreciated that if forsome reason the test mechunsheathed cable I0 is passed through a lead anism did not start to rotate around the cable press H and is extruded from a die l2 as leadwhen the cable moved axially therethrough, the sheath-covered cable. This sheath frequently is contact members of the test mechanism which found to be eccentric, that is, thicker in one por- I0 engage the cable would score and otherwise dam tion of the circumference than in another, and age the surface of the cable, due to drag, without such variations in thickness are undesirable since rotation, on the moving sheath. An equally imthey constitute points of weakness. The said portant reason for immediate starting isthat all lead-sheathed cable, after being extruded from of the cable sheath passing through the machine the die 12, is therefore caused to pass through a must be tested, and this would not be the case testing mechanism l3 which is designed to detect 25 it the contacts did not rotate. It is the principal the eccentricity and indicate the same upon a. object 01' this invention, therefore, to provide an visual indicator l4 and upon a recording tape 0 automatic control mechanism whereby the rotapassing over a recording table I5. The sheathed tion of the test contacts would be ensured as soon cable is then passed through a quenching tank as the cable begins its axialmovement out of and finally onto a reel I8. 30 the press and through the test mechanism, and The test mechanism may be as shown in the immediate discontinuance of rotation ofi said patent of Elmer A. Sperry, Jr., and Francis H. contacts would be ensured after cessation of axial Shepard, No. 2,133,725, granted October 18, 1938, movement of the cable. and may comprise meansfor passing current into It is a further object of this invention to provide the lead sheath, as for instance by induction coils, 3 said automatic circuit control mechanismwhichwill and a detector mechanism in the form of one or not only ensure the rotation of the testmechanism more pairs of contacts adapted to engage the when the cable starts its axial movement, but sheath and to be rotated around the circumferwhich will stop the said mechanism as soon as ence thereof as the sheath moves axially through the movement of the cable ceases. This is also the test mechanism l3. The contacts will pick 40 essential since otherwise the rotary movement of ad the potential drop from point to point and any the test mechanism around the stationary cable variation in potential drop due to a variation in would cause scoring and damage to the cable. thickness of the lead sheath is amplified by any Further objects and advantages of this invensuitable'thermionic amplifier IS, the output or tlon will become apparent in the following dewhich is caused to operate a pen P on a moving 45 tailed description thereof. chart C, the said chart being moved at a constant In the accompanying drawings: speed by motor M.

Fig. 1 is an assembly view showing my inven- The output of the amplifier is also caused to tion embodied in a lead sheath testing mechaoperate the visual indicator which consists of two 5 nism parts, one mechanically actuated through me- Fig. 2 isa wlring diagram showing an impulsechanical drives 20 in synchronlsm with the rotagenerating mechanism and mechanism controlled tion of the contacts, and the other part being electhereby. trically controlled by the output from the am- Flg. 3 is a side elevation showing a portion of plifier through connection 2!. The indicator may 5 the impulse-generating mechanism. be as described in the patent to Fred B. Braddon June 4, 1935, and may have two parts, one part 22 showing the exact position of the eccentricity with respect to the circumference of the cable, and another part 23 showing the degree of eccentricity in terms of percent.

From the above outline of the lead sheath cable testing mechanism now in commercial use and known as the Sperry detector for lead sheath, it becomes apparent that the test contacts which engage the cable and rotate around the circumference thereof must necessarily produce a slight scoring of the, lead sheath, since this is incident to eflecting a firm contact; Also, it must be appreciated that the contacts at all times must be held in firm contact with the peripheryof the lead cable. If it is attempted to move the cable through .the test mechanism without rotating the contacts it will be apparent that severe scoring of the cable will take place. In other words, if the test contacts are not set into rotation at substantially the same time that the cable starts its axial movement through the test mechanism, then there will be severe longitudinal scorstarted when the axial ing of the cable. Therefore, it is important that .the motor M which rotates the contacts around the circumference of the cable to be started promptly when the cable commences its axial movement through the'test mechanism. Also, it will be appreciated that should the cable cease its axial movement through the test mechanism but the motor M remain energized to continue the rotation of the test contacts, then said contacts would deeply score the cable circumferentially by reason of the fact that they run repeatt edly in the same tracks. It is therefore highly desirable that the contacts cease rotating at substantially the same time that the cable ceases its axial movement. Also, since the recording tape should move in synchronism with the movement of the cable, it is desirable that the motor M which controls the movement of the chart be movement of the cable commences and be stopped when the said axial movement ceases.

To accomplish all of the aforesaid objects, namely, to start motor M and the rotation of the test contacts as soon as the axial movement of the cable commences and to stop said motor and said rotation of the test contacts as soon as said .icable ceases its axial movement, as well as to start and stop motor M and hence the movement of chart 0 in synchronism with the movement of the cable, I have provided several forms of my invention, all of which, however, operate upon the same general principle, as will now become apparent from the detailed description. Every-form of my invention depends upon the axial movement of the cable causing a series of electric impulses to be transmitted, which im-O pulses are integrated to give one continuous output sufllcient to keep the circuit through the driving motors closed. Said impulses cease being transmitted when the movement of the cable ceases and hence the motor circuits are opened. In one form of my invention, disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, a wheel W is suspended on test mechanism l3 for movement about a transverse axis 25 so'that said wheel is free to'rest upon the surface of the cable as it emerges from the test -mechanism l3. Therefore, as the cable starts its cuit, it is apparent that sufficient interval after fingers and Alfred Lawrence, No. 2,003,336, granted posed of a central gear wheel 30 enclosed between two plates 3| and 32. The said wheel 30 has electric conducting teeth 33 which project above the. periphery 34, 35 of the plates 3|, 32. The spaces between adjacent gear teeth form a depression, the bottom 36 of which is below the said peripheries 34, 35 of the outside plates. The teeth 33 are electric conductors while the plates 3|, 32 are of insulating material such as Bakelite. Spaced contact fingers 40 are designed to ride on the teeth 33 and into the depressions 36 and it will be readily, appreciated that as the wheel W rotates, fingers 40 will first contacts 40 are, however, so positioned that instead 'of dropping to the bottom of depression 36, they will rest upon the peripheries 34 and 35 of the insulator plates, as shown in the dotted line position in Fig. 3. If, now, the contact fingers 40 and the gear 30 are placed in an electric cirthe circuit, including a source of E. M. FAQ, will be completed each time the fingers 40 ride upon a gear tooth 33 and said circuit will be broken each time the fingers drop into engagement with the insulator plates in' the space betweenadiacent gear teeth. Therefore, as wheel W rotates, a series of impulses may be transmitted by engagement of fingers 40 with the successive gear teeth 33 to an automatic control unit 41 comprising the elements disclosed in detail in Fig. 4.

In order that the impulses generated from rotating wheelW may control the circuit through motors M and M it is necessary that these impulses be integrated to give one continuous output suflicient to keep the circuit through the said motors closed. For this purpose, there is positioned in the circuit which includes the contact 40 and gear teeth 33, a source of current supply 7 l9, and delayed-action relay 50 which is designed to make quickly and break slowly, and which is energized every time contact fingers 40 engage a gear tooth 33. Since the relay 50 is of the delayed action type, it will remain energized for a 40 have left one tooth 33 until the said fingers engage the next tooth 33 for the normal rate of axial movement of the lead sheath cable and, therefore, the normal rate of rotation of wheel W. In other words, the relay 50 will be energized a second time before it has an opportunity to be de-energized by reason of the fingers 40 leaving the preceding tooth 33. As a result, relay50 will remain enwheel W is rotating, and it will readily be seen that as long as relay 5|! is continuously energized it may be utilized to control the circuits through motors M and M either directly or, if the voltage in the motor circuits is high, through a power relay M; as shown. Such control may be effected by causing relay 60 to attract its armature 52 to close contacts 53 to energize the power relay 5| which acts in the erglzed as long as usual way to close multiple sets of contacts 54, 55, capable of controlling large currents through the motors M and M. v

From the above description it will become apparent that as long as wheel W is rotating, that is, as long as there is axial movement of the cable, the motors M and M will be energized to cause movement of chart C and rotation of the test contacts. As soon as the rotation of. wheel W ceases, the impulses to relay 50 cease and said relay releases it armature 52 to open contacts 53 to de-energize the power relay and break the circuits through motors M and M.

engage a tooth 33 and to close the ,movement of ousenergization of relay 8|, 82 and 83.

It 'will be seen that should the wheel W stop in such position that contact fingers 40 remain in engagement with a gear tooth 33, the circuit through relay 50 would remain permanently energized and the motors M and M would continue to operate. To obviate such an occurrence, I provide in the circuit between and relay 50, another relay 60 of the makebefore-break type. The operation of said relay follows: When an impulse passes through relay 60 it attracts its armature ii to cause contacts 62 to engage, and upon further movement of armature 6i contacts 63 are caused to engage circuit through relay 50. Further armature 6| causes said armature to engage a member 65 which is also in engagement with member 66 carrying one of the contacts 63, so that the final movement of armature 6| serves to break contacts 63 and therefore deenergize relay 50. If, therefore, the wheel should stop with contacts 40 and 33 in engagement it will be seen that this will not result in continu- 50 because after the predetermined energization of relay 60, armature 6| will cause contacts 63 to open and break the circuit through relay 50. There is therefore provided in this make-before-break relay inserted in series with relay 50, a device for preventing an impulse of longer than a predetermined duration from reaching relay 50, and therefore stoppage of contact fingers 40 on tooth 33 will not result in prolongation of the energization of motors M and M. The constants of elements 60,- 33, 40 and 50 are so chosenthat the device operates between predetermined upper and lower limits of rate of movement of the cable. The constants are such that the device operates at any speed above a predetermined minimum which is very near stand-still, and below a predetermined upper speed limit which is well above the highest operating speed. Above this speed limit the impulses transmitted by relay B are of such duration that they do not allow sufflcient energy to be built up to establish the required pull on elements 6|.

In another. form of my invention, illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown the wheel W as carrying segmented commutator 13 and slip ring I4,

while contact brushes 10, H and 12 are held stationary and in engagement with the commutator and slip ring. The number of segments in the said commutator may be chosen to lit the needs of each particular case, but in the form I have illustrated there are 16 divided in groups of 4 electrically interconnected series, each group oi.

4 being connected separately to condensers 80, The brushes i0 and H are, as shown in Fig.- 5, connected to a source of voltage 34 so that each time brush engages one of the contact segments it will charge one of the condensers. In practice, the voltage shown as supplied from separate sgurce 84 may be taken 01! the main supply 49. In so charging the condenser, there is a definite current impulse which continues until the condenser is fully charged, and said impulse maybe caused to pass through delayed-action relay 50 as before. In this instance, the interposition of "make-before-break relay 69 is not necessary, since even if the brushes contacts 40, 33,

It will be seen by ref-,

which causes the condenser 82 to be charged. In

the next movement, condenser 8i is at the time that said condenser 8| brushes l2 short-circuit condenser 83 to' discharge the same. In the next movement, condenser is charged and condenser 82 is discharged but is charged,

charged. This cycle continues throughout the movement of wheel W. It will be seen that successive impulses are transmitted to relay 50 due to the successive charging of the condensers, but it will be apparent that the device could be arranged to operate equally well to energize relay 50 on the successive discharge of the condensers. Also, by means of an additional winding on relay 50, and an additional commutator, both the charging and discharging impulses can be employed.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the .apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other equivalent means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of an object, comprising a normally open circuit, means whereby the movement of said object generates a plurality of electric impulses in said second circuit, and means whereby said impulses open and close the first electric circuit.

2. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of an object, comprising a normally open circuit, means whereby the movement of said object generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses in said second circuit, and means whereby said impulses open and close the first electric circuit.

3. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of an object, comprising a normally open circuit, means whereby the movement 01' said object generates a plurality of electric impulses in said second circuit, means for integrating said impulses, and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the first electric circuit.

4. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of an object comprising a normally open circuit, means whereby the movement of said obiect generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses in said second circuit, means for integrating said impulses, and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the first electric circuit.

5. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of translation of an object, comprising means adapted to be moved by the movement of translation of said object, means whereby movement of said movable means generates -a plurality of electric impulses, and means whereby said impulses open and close the electric circuit. v

6. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of translation of an object, comprising means adapted to be moved by the movement of translation of said object, means whereby movement of said movable means generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses, and means whereby said impulses open and close the electric circuit.

'7. A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of translation of an object, comprising means adapted to be moved by the movement of translation of said object, means whereby movement of said movable means generates a plurality of electric impulses, means for integrating said impulses, and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the electric circuit.

8.-A device for controlling an electric circuit in response to movement of translation of an object, comprising means adapted to be moved by the movement of translation of said object, means whereby movement of said movable means generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses, means for integrating said impulses, and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the electric circuit.

9. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric circuit, an operating motor in' said circuit fiaw detector means, and means whereby said motor rotates said detector means around said cable, a device for controlling said circuit in response to move- -ment of the cable, said device comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, means whereby movement of said member generates a plurality of electric impulses, and means whereby said impulses open and close said circuit.

10. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric circuit, an operating motor in said circuit flaw detector means, and means whereby said motor rotates said detectormeans around said cable, a device for controlling said circuit in response to movement of the cable, saiddevice comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, means whereby movement of said member generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses, and means whereby said impulses open and close said circuit. a

11. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric .cir-

cuit, an operating motorin said circuit flawfdetector means, and means whereby said motor rotates said detector means around said cable, a devicefor controlling said circuit in response to movement of the cable, said device comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, means whereby movement of said member generates a plurality of electric impulses, means for integrating said impulses, and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the electric circuit;

12. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric circuit, an operating motor in said circuit flaw detestor means, and means whereby said motor rotates said detector means around said cable, a device for controlling said circuit in response to movement of the cable, said device comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, means whereby movement of said member generates a plurality of periodic electric impulses, means for integrating said impulses and means whereby said integrated impulses open and close the electric circuit.

13. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric circuit, an operating motor in said circuit flaw detector means, and means whereby said motor rotates said detector means around said cable, a device for controlling said circuit in response to movement of the cable, said device comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, an electric impulse generating circuit adapted to be alternately energized and de-energized as said member is moved, means whereby said impulses open and close said motor circuit, and means for breaking said generating circuit after a predetermined interval of energization thereof.

14. In a testing mechanism, a lead sheath cable, said mechanism including an electric circuit, an operating motor in said circuit flaw detector means, and means whereby saidlmotor rotates said detector means around said cable, a device for controlling said circuit in response to movement of the cable, said device comprising a member adapted to be moved by the movement of said cable, an electric impulse generatin circuit adapted to be alternately energized and deenergized as said member is moved, means whereby said impulses open and close said motor circuit, and means including a "make-beforebreak relay for breaking said generating circuit after a predetermined interval of energization thereof.

LOREN J. DE LAN'I'Y. 

